Many cytotoxic agents used in cancer chemotherapy cause a rapid and sometimes complete loss of hair. The development of hair loss is a traumatic experience, though not a dangerous side effect of cancer treatment. In addition to the inherent psychological stress of chemotherapy, hair loss may increase the despair of the patient to the point of social withdrawal. Scalp cooling during chemotherapy can alleviate hair loss by reducing metabolic activity in the scalp.
Several types of caps containing ice or other liquids are widely used to effect scalp cooling during chemotherapy. These caps have shown a degree of effectiveness but have several drawbacks. Specifically, such caps provide no control over the cooling process, are unduly heavy, are uncomfortable because of the length of time in use, frequently are not reusable and, at times, have a traumatic effect on the patient as a result of the intense cold.
Clothing incorporating a circulating liquid coolant system is a development of recent years. Much work in this area has been done by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for the purpose of providing the necessary protective clothing during space missions. This type of clothing has generally employed a fabric with a network of tubing attached thereto through which is circulated a liquid coolant or heat exchange fluid. The tubing was somewhat randomly affixed to such fabric as the purpose was to provide a somewhat general overall body temperature control as distinguished from a fixed, precise temperature control at a particular part of the body. While such temperature controllable fabrics have proven adequate for their intended purpose, they have not proved to be totally satisfactory from the standpoint of scalp hypothermia. The ramdom positioning of circulating tubes makes precise temperature control exceedingly difficult, if not impossible. The nature of the construction of these composite fabrics is such that little adjustment capabilities are present and, as a result, any particular garment must be tailor made to fit the particular body size involved.
It is an object of this invention to provide an improved scalp cover useful in scalp hypothermia and employing a liquid coolant circulating system to prevent hair loss during chemotherapy.
It is another object of this invention to provide such an improved scalp cover that is readily adjustable to fit any particular patient's head size.
It is another object of this invention to provide such an improved scalp cover providing very precise temperature control to the entire scalp.
Other objects of this invention will become apparent from the description contained herein.